Various games have used play-pieces with machine-readable indicia to allow computer management of the game play. One such example is “Lego Treasure Quest Electronic Scavenger Hunt Game”, published by The LEGO Group, Billund, Denmark, circa 1998. In Treasure Quest, competing players sought indicia-bearing keys hidden by another person (e.g., Mom), which, when found, were combined with a player's unique key-frame and inserted into a treasure chest containing a computer to judge and give the results (credit for the find). The computer would then dispatch the successful hunter to the next room. Another example is “The Eye of Judgment” published by Sony Computer Entertainment of Foster City, Calif., circa 2007, in which players would have a hand of cards, which when played onto the tableau, in view of a camera connected to a video game console, would be recognized by the video game console, which would display not only the tableau and the card, but having recognized the card and determined its orientation, would overlay computer graphic animations into the display, as if a monster had risen out of the card. When another card (from the opposing player) was laid onto the tableau near the first, and its indicia recognized, a second monster would appear and the two monsters would fight, eventually resulting in once card being removed from the game.
In each of these prior art instances, each play-piece has a single indicium. In the case of Treasure Quest, two play-pieces (the key and the player's key-frame) are combined. In both cases, the play-piece indicia (whether alone or in combination) allow the player to perform single function, offering no ability to select from functions. As a result, game play is very specific; with variation only coming from the combinations of which play-pieces are presented in which arrangement.
In HeroClix™, a miniatures war-game manufactured by WizKids/NECA, LLC. of New Jersey and taught by Weisman in U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,332, the game rules make use of a plurality of human-readable game play values provided on the base of character figurine play-pieces: Static indicia on the base of a HeroClix™ play-piece, as taught by Weisman, includes the character's: a) name, b) point value, c) rank, d) front arc, e) rear arc, f) collector's number, g) faction symbol, and h) combat values, while dynamic indicia are provided on dials in the base that are viewed through a slot and represent current values for the character's speed, attack, defense, and damage. As the game is played, Weisman's dynamic game play values change in response to outcomes that require the dial of the play-piece to be advanced. In some cases, a dynamic indicium may further indicate that a character's special ability is available. A drawback of the HeroClix system is that the indicia on a particular figure exclusively represent attributes of the character, whether static or dynamic, or metadata about other indicia (i.e., where a static icon provides the identify of an adjacent indicium, whether static or dynamic). Further, individual indicia do not represent, among other things, commands a player might issue in a game to a character, nor do indicia represent compound information (i.e., both a play-piece identifier and some other information). As a result, game progress requires frequent handling of a play-piece for human-examination of the values, or for manually advancement a dial to update the dynamic values, either of which, besides being inconvenient, can cause an issue if the play-piece is not exactly restored to its previous position.